Update
Yesterday (12/06/2010), a group of leftist protesters attacked police with an IED (not “just” fireworks, it appears). Two injured officers had to undergo surgery.
Here’s my wish to the radical left, and everyone else: can we have a demonstration condemning this brutal and senseless violence, please? You can count me in. I’ve had it with the acquiescence and even jovial affirmation of anti-police violence. No one ever is a pig, and certainly not someone in uniform, doing this very hard and thankless job for all of us.
Here’s why I think we should be grateful to them.
“Around here, everyone is very loyal, except if you’re wearing a uniform”.
(Fictional Lieutenant Commander Jack Reese, US Navy on The West Wing)
Last night, I witnessed a minor quarreling at a Berlin beach bar. As the conflict threatened to turn violent, we called the police, which promptly arrived, and handled the dispute.
As the six officers were handling the situation, us standing by and debating whether the police was doing the right thing, I couldn’t help but wonder whether we were paying the men and women in uniform doing this thankless job the respect and tribute they deserve.
The quarrel between the club’s staff and an apparently homeless man arose over an alleged theft of my friend’s handbag, including a digital camera and purse (all of which were later returned). One of the bartenders claimed to have seen the homeless man snatch the bag, and then confronted him outside the club. The encounter quickly became agitated, with another, particularly aggressive club employee having what appeared to be a more fundamental axe to grind with the homeless man. As the aggressive employee moved from fisticuffs to threatening the homeless man with a broomstick and proceeded to escort him back into the beach club, I decided it was time to call the police.
Berlin Police arrived shortly after, with three squad car crews followed by a team in combat gear. I felt pretty bad for having caused the police so much hassle over this relatively minor incident. A colleague from the Hertie School of Governance remarked that “there was definitely no shortage of state resources here”, as the heavy cavalry set in.
In Germany, we are always wary of repressive and powerful law enforcement, which twice in our history has brought untold sorrow and enabled horrendous crimes to be committed. Notwithstanding our justified skepticism, it occurred to me later, the ready availability of this state resource isa formidable achievement for a society, and one which we too easily neglect or take for granted.
With that, particularly in liberal, leftist and educated circles frequently comes a disregard and mistrust of the men and women in uniform who do this unpleasant job for us.
As the police were trying to untangle the situation and get the pitifully deprived homeless man and the agitated shop-keeper off each other’s chest, I couldn’t help but feel deeply uneasy, eager to leave.
I, and as I imagine, many of the leftist “Bullenschweine“-shouters (a derogatory, dehumanizing term for police officers), have never lived through the deprivation, frustration and violence of an average officer’s working day. Nor do I, like many of the pampered police-bashers, frequently depend on an officers’ help precisely because I live so well protected and insulated from the more precarious social realities of our societies and cities.
The job we ask these brave men and women to do is poorly paid, often inadequately equipped and sometimes involves danger for life and limb. It is also a job of high risk and no reward, one that hardly ever earns our recognition but one on which we dearly rely. We have to recognize this unthankful arrangement as what it is: a form of structural violence and injustice, terms the left, oddly enough, is otherwise not shy to use.
Police violence is a sad reality, an unacceptable failure of the state and a coward crime. But we must also understand, not justify it, in terms of the structural injustice and violence it breeds in. Given their frequent exposure to violence and danger, recently including attempted murder of two officers, who were set on fire by Mai 1st rioters, it is hardly surprising, if still unacceptable, that police officers sometimes develop reactive esprit de corps, overstep their powers or even turn violent. From Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment on, social psychology has taught us about the power of those situations, warned us of blaming individuals and advised us to take organizational precautions.
As much as individual failures and crimes, we must understand these transgressions as products of our societal neglect to adequately equip, pay, train and counsel the people who take on this hard job and unforgiving uniform. Rather than demonize and bash the police, we must commit the necessary resources to enable them to do the job as professionally and as carefully as we need them to, all the while remembering that, for the most part, law enforcement is treating symptoms, not causes of societal ill.
In the meantime, all we can do is to unambiguously speak out against ignorant police bashing, condemn violent acts against them, no matter from which political aisle, and to show our officers the respect and regard they deserve.
Thank you, police.
Erinnert mich an “Niggerschweine” in Berlin…
Stimmt! … ach, lang’ ist’s her …
(zur Erläuterung für Aussenstehende: Julia und ich haben an einem Theaterprojekt mitgewirkt in dem Rechtsradikale karikiert wurden).
really remarkable blog! Thank you for this impressive contribution, Max!
Ich bin ganz deiner Meinung! Hatte den gleichen Gedanken in der Nacht.
Nice and interesting blog entry, I definitely agree with you that the job the police is doing is by far not appreciated enough. As a matter of fact, this is true for any profession that both bears much responsibility and is at the service of society — just thinking of nurses, teachers, etc.
Those that today shout ‘pigs’ or ‘Bullenschweine’ may not reflect much about what they’re shouting, but I doubt that they would actually agree with Meinhof when she says “the guy in uniform is a pig, not a human”… I think – or better, I hope – we’ve moved on from these kind of views.
However, even though we can definitely condemn the de-humanizing spirit behind calling policemen ‘pigs/Bullenschweine’, in certain situations seemingly similar kinds of leftist ranting are are more appropriate– namely that against a ‘Bullenstaat’ or a ‘police state’. If the circumstances or the police’s strategy make it near impossible for the individual policeman to actually be of service to the average citizen, then such leftist ranting could be one way to show reflected critique of just the structural elements that in itself have the tendency to dehumanize our friends in uniform and allow for police violence.
Of course, like you pointed out, good equipment and training are of key importance, but I really hope that police finally get those name tags on their uniforms (as was in controversial discussion a few month ago, I don’t know what the current state of this is…)
Hey Udo, thanks for your very thoughtful comment.
I agree with everything you said. Indeed, there are many other people in public service, who do similarly difficult, important but frequently unrecognized jobs.
Also you’re right to point out, that many ‘Bullenschweine’ shouters today are certainly not to be compared with Meinhof’s justification of terror and violence.
And yes, the recognition of police officer’s work must not render illegitimate criticisms of the police’s overall role. Rather than about a ‘police state’, I am always worried about us focusing too much on our fears, and on the symptoms of our societal ills, rather than working on fundamental remedies, and thinking of opportunities.
Unfortunately, I have no idea about the controversy on name tags, but, as in other contexts, I can imagine that protection from retribution is a possible argument against them.
http://maxheld.de/2008/01/21/culture-of-fear/
here, by the way, are some thoughts on how a focus on fear and protection can distort our priorities in policy making and debilitate the political process.
Clearly, fear plays a very important role in all this, or better — we allow it to play an important role. Often though, fear and distrust go hand in hand. Once we manage to disentangle our emotion of fear and our sense of distrust, we should be able to stop focusing on the symptoms and – I couldn’t agree with you more – shift to working on fundamental remedies. I’ll add some links on this below.
Whenever I am at some political demonstration, when I find myself talking to or listening to the bullenschweine-shouter fraction, I am amazed at the distorted perceptions of the police that some of them have. It seems to me like many of them (esp those organized in the so-called black block) live in an entirely different world, a world of constant struggle and hatred.
While on the hand, this makes the police’s fear of retribution more comprehensible, on the other hand it just shows how quickly we enter a spiral of irrational fear.
As far as I am concerned, both policemen and citizens would only benefit from any measures to increase police’s accountability.
On name tags for policemen in Berlin:
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Landespolitik-Berliner-Polizei-Dieter-Glietsch;art124,2695924
http://www.taz.de/regional/berlin/aktuell/artikel/1/die-kennzeichnung-bleibt-eine-utopie/
Interesting article on interrogation practice, police accountability and policy making:
http://www.zeit.de/2009/18/DOS-Gestaendnis
Hey Udo again, thanks so much for the links.
I find the argument that, should someone seek retribution, that person would be able to find the name of the officer anyway pretty convincing. Then again, I don’t do that job, so … .
Also, I wonder whether name tags could change the atmosphere at demonstrations and other police encounters. Maybe they could actually help to reduce violence, by making officers less anonymous (I mean officers as victims as well as, of course, perpetrators).
I’ve always wondered what exactly the motivation and background of the ‘black block’ (particularly violent demonstrators) is. I guess the chances for a systematic large-n survey aren’t too great …
The interrogation article is interesting … and ambiguous. More transparency certainly would help.
Ok, I guess I need to add a disclaimer here. I’m not saying only this minority of brutal demonstrators is at fault for the escalation. Police strategy certainly is just as important. And it’d better be really good, and really de-escalating.
I’ve heard that there were police dogs on the sidelines. That doesn’t feel like de-escalation. And I don’t like it.
Ich finde, dass du Recht hast, wenn du schreibst, dass wir den undankbaren Job, den diese Polizisten machen, oft nicht richtig würdigen.
Allerdings würde ich auf jeden Fall den Demonstranten, die die Sprengsätze geworfen haben, die Hauptschuld an der Eskalation zuschreiben. Ob die Polizisten sich richtig verhalten haben, kann man bisher weder anhand des Videos, noch anhand von Medieninformationen beurteilen. Der Gedanke an Polizeihunde gefällt mir nicht und ich bin auch der Meinung, dass in Sachen Deeskalation bei Demonstrationen von Seiten der Polizei mehr getan werden könnte. Aber selbst das rechtfertigt in keiner Weise das Vorgehen der Demonstranten. Wer es in Kauf nimmt, Menschen zu verletzten, setzt sich selbst ins Unrecht.
Ich habe tatsächlich manchmal das Gefühl, dass sich so eine Grundskepsis gegenüber Uniformen in unserem kollektiven Bewusstsein einach eingenistet hat. Und irgendwo finde ich das sehr beruhigend, weil es ein Zeichen dafür ist, dass wir aus unserer Geschichte gelernt haben. Nichtsdestotrotz sollte man differenzieren zwischen dem Misstrauen gegenüber Repressionen durch die Staatsgewalt und dem daraus ab/fehlgeleiteten “Bullenschweine”- Rufen und Gewalt gegen Polizisten. Man kann zum Beispiel Online-Durchsuchungen, Internetzensur oder einer Ausweitung der Polizeibefugnisse, wie sie ja anscheinend von der Innenministerkonferenz angedacht wird, durchaus kritisch gegenüberstehen, ohne gleichzeitig die harte Arbeit der Streifenpolizisten herabzuwürdigen und damit bei ihnen für zusätzlichen Frust zu sorgen. Da sollten manche Linke vielleicht mal in sich gehen und sich fragen, was davon mehr mit dem sogenannten “Bullenstaat” zu tun hat, der in ihren Köpfen herumgeistert.
Hey Lea,
absolutely agreed.
The blame for escalation in this particular scene falls only on those who planted the explosive device. And even if it weren’t so – there is no excuse.
I’m just in general, and on a very different level also concerned about police tactics. I don’t know anything about this, but crowd control in this city sure seems to be one hell of a job.
I also agree with your criticism of the “Bullenschweine”-culture.
I actually have to admit that I plainly like the police. I wish I understood more about their job, their problems and maybe of what could still be done better.
It’s not that I necessarily often feel safer with them (luckily I live in very safe areas anyway).
It just feels good that there are people around who are doing this for our polity.